Mobile devices are potential targets for hackers and malware writers. As users increase the number of data applications on their mobile devices, the risk of malware being introduced into the mobile network and spread among mobile devices also increases. Malware tends to spread exponentially in a network, therefore it is important to stop malware early to prevent service disruption in significant portions of the network.
Typical malware detection applications scan a single computer to determine whether the computer is infected with malware and remove the offending malware when a malware signature is detected in a compromised application. Although post-infection cleaning can remove malware from a single computer, such cleaning is only effective for malware that has already been identified and recognized. Post-infection cleaning is not capable of removing new or changing malware, and cannot prevent the infection from occurring.
Network techniques to prevent the spread of malware involve scanning network traffic for a malware signature at distinct points, called firewalls, to prevent malware from entering the network. However, this technique does not protect the network from malware that enters the network from points within the network itself. More robust network techniques involve placing a scanner within network elements, such as one or more of the routers that make up the data network. However, both of these network techniques are effective only for malware that has already been identified and recognized, not new or changing malware. Furthermore, such network techniques do not stop infections from happening in the first place.
Accordingly, there is a need for a system and method that can identify both new and old malware in the wireless network and prevent it from spreading to mobile phones. There is a need for a system that can detect, prevent, and stop malware attacks on wireless networks before the malware has a chance to spread and significantly disrupt service in a network.